“I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me…” Galatians 2:20
“In Christ” is a term that describes our position of surrender to Jesus Christ, making us one with Him. This coupling union makes it possible for us to be reconciled back into relationship with God. One aspect of being in Christ is through identification. Identification is when a person takes on the identity of someone else. A description of a person’s identity would include: who they are, what they have, what they can do. According to Romans 5:5, all men and women have been copied from an original, after Adam. Our identity is that of a sinful man, born with a nature that was bent on sinning.
Jesus Shared our Identity
Philippians 2:5-8 it says that Jesus made the choice to leave the glory He knew with God in order to take the identity of one of us. He entered the world the same was we did, as a baby, but born of a virgin. He was deity, but He operated under our identity in the earth, as a man. Jesus identified with us in who we were, what we had, and what we could do. He was tempted in every area that we have been tempted, but He chose not to sin. His ultimate purpose in becoming a human being was to take on our identity so He could take our punishment and die our death.
We Can Share Christ’s Identity
Jesus broke the curse of the Law and removed the punishment for sin. Jesus was raised to back to life, making the way for us to know the new birth. When we accept Christ and position ourselves in surrender to His lordship, we can then identify with Him. Because we are one with Him, we can now share in who He is, what He has, and what He could do!
- Christ became who we were so we could become who He is!
- Christ took what we had so we could have what He has!
- Christ did what we could do so we could do what He does!
Application: Are you living a Christ-like life? You can! He became like us so that we could become like Him. It all happens through surrendering our lives to Him. Today and everyday, let God examine our lives to see if there is anything that we are keeping from Him. Each day is an opportunity to die to self and let God shape us into the image of His Son.